More than nine billion people on Earth in 2050

The world's population is expected to increase by 2,6 billion over the next 45 years, from 6,5 billion this year to 9,1 billion in 2050, according to a UN report released Thursday.

Most of the increase will take place in the least developed countries, whose population will increase from 5,3 billion today to 7,8 billion in 2050, while that of the most developed countries will remain stable at 1,2 billion. XNUMX billion.

This report, issued by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, contains the last update, carried out in 2004, of figures on the world population. The United Nations makes these updates every two years.

According to the document, the planet's population will reach the threshold of 6,5 billion next July, an increase of 380 million souls since 2000, that is to say an annual average increase of 76 million.

Despite a declining projection of the average fertility rate - from 2,65 children per woman today to 2,05 in 2050 - the world's population is still expected to grow by around 34 million people per year by mid-century.

The population is expected to double in the 50 least developed countries of the world, from 0,8 billion in 2005 to 1,7 billion in 2050. It is even expected to triple in countries such as Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, two Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Uganda, Chad and Timor-Leste.

In contrast, the population of 51 countries or regions, such as Germany, Italy, Japan and most of the former USSR states, is expected to decline between 2005 and 2050.

In the next 45 years, nine countries alone are expected to account for more than half of the projected increase in world population: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, DRCongo, Bangladesh, Uganda, United States, Ethiopia and China, cited in the decreasing order of their contribution to the overall increase.

World average life expectancy, which increased from 46 years between 1950 and 1955 to 65 years between 2000 and 2005, is expected to increase further, reaching 75 years in 2050. In the most advanced countries, it is expected to rise from 75 years old today to 82 in the middle of the century.

In the least developed countries, on the other hand, this life expectancy, estimated today at a little less than 50 years, is expected to rise to 66 years in 2050. The report nevertheless underlines that many countries belonging to this group are affected by the pandemic, the projected increase in life expectancy will depend on the implementation of effective programs to treat and prevent the disease.